Sweet little lies turn sour for online dating fibbers

Got a hot night out with a tall, dark handsome stranger you met online?

Then keep your eyes peeled in the restaurant for that short, blond ugly bloke who works in your office.

Chances are he won’t realise you’re his dream date either… unless you’ve woken up looking like you did as a teenager, but with far bigger breasts.

More than half of people on online dating sites lie about themselves, research shows.

A fifth pretend they are younger or use photos at least three years out of date. And nearly a quarter mislead potential suitors about their profession or level of seniority.

‘Their hope is to make such a strong impression on the first meeting that any lies will be overlooked,’ said psychologist Donna Dawson. ‘The trouble is that they rarely succeed, as the first “first impression” will reveal them to be dishonest.’

A third of men lied about their height on their online dating profile, the research by dating website Would Like To Meet reveals.

A tenth of women said their breasts were bigger.

The lucrative world of finance and the trendy TV and music business were the top industries to lie about working in. But it seems dating romantics are learning how to read between the lines.

Many now take adventurous to mean sexually adventurous, bubbly to mean hyper and athletic to mean vain, the survey found.

People’s biggest concern was that dating sites are telling porkies, by using fake profiles of good looking people who are not actually signed up.